I Made a Thing

This weekend, I did something scary and invigorating. I took a thing that I had made, and I shared it with the world. In case you missed the announcement on my social media feeds, I’ve started a tech blog called Prosumable that publishes weekly roundups of the most important technology news people need to know. It’s the product of a lot of planning and hard work, and it may be the most ambitious project I’ve ever taken on. Also, it very nearly didn’t see the light of the day.

A couple of months ago, I was overwhelmed by a massive wave of creativity. I can’t be totally sure where it came from, but I think it might have been my mind’s way of coping with the fact that my educational career was coming to an end. Regardless, I found myself constantly coming up with ideas for things I wanted to write, and I felt like I was going to blow up if I didn’t get some of those ideas out into the world. I interpreted this to mean that I needed to get back into a habit of weekly blogging, and so I did (without making a big deal about it in case I couldn’t keep up). But even as I began crafting and releasing new content each week, I still felt overwhelmed by this creative energy that I just couldn’t shake.

And the more I reflected on it, the more I realized that what I wanted to create was something completely separate from what I had made before. Yes, I love my blog and the flexibility it gives me to share my thoughts about a wide range of topics with the world, but spilling my guts once a week about whatever was on my mind just wasn’t going to be enough. I realized that my interests, which tend to be pretty widespread, were starting to cluster around a few central issues that I was spending most of my free time researching and thinking about. And all of these issues were within the world of technology.

The idea for Prosumable didn’t hit me all that once. It was something that had to sort of build through reflection and refinement. But the more my mind reeled with this creative energy, the more the idea took shape until one day, I realized I had created an entire project in my head that I was absolutely in love with and couldn’t bear to keep contained any longer. And that’s when I decided to make Prosumable, not just as an idea in my head, but as a real thing in the real world.

So I started practicing, and I quickly realized that making something—even something that I love and have a passion for—is much more difficult than dreaming about it. So for the last couple of months, I’ve been researching, collecting tech stories, and practicing synthesizing those stories into articles that are appealing and understandable to people who aren’t as interested in technology as I am. I didn’t just want to bring my dream into reality; I wanted to do it well. And that took time and hard work as I prepared to go public.

When I first started working on Prosumable, I set a launch date of May 20, the first weekend after my graduation. But as that date approached, my enthusiasm gave way to something else: dread. I started talking myself out of it, saying things like, “No one’s going to read that anyway,” and “Much smarter people are doing this much better than you are. Why bother?” Then I considered pushing the date back until I could hone my craft and get it just right. By May 19, I had pretty much decided that the project was dead in the water.

But something about it wouldn’t let go. For whatever reason, I really felt like this was the right thing for me to be doing right now. Am I the most qualified person in the world to be commenting on trends in technology? No. Is the content I’m creating for the site perfect? No. Is sustaining the model I’ve committed myself to going to be easy? No. But for some reason, I felt the need to create this, and depriving myself of that creative outlet and the world of my creation (imperfect as it may be) would just be wrong.

So here I am, and here it is: Prosumable. My new, shiny creation that I almost gave up on at the last minute. I’ve been through the entire emotional spectrum of creating something new, and I’ve come out on the other side enthused, encouraged, and excited about the future. Thank you for letting me share my passion with you, and thank you to everyone who has checked out the site and offered support. This project is still in its infancy, and I can’t wait to form it into something great. I made a thing, it’s a thing that I’ve released into the world, and I couldn’t be happier about it.

What Seminary Taught Me

I finally did it! I graduated from seminary.

Last Friday, after three years and 93 credit-hours of theological study, discussion, and reflection, I walked across the stage and received my Master of Divinity degree. It was a long road that often didn’t seem to have an end, but it was also an amazing learning experience that taught me more than I ever could have possibly imagined. As I’ve been finishing up the last few requirements for my degree, I’ve also been taking some time to think through the big-picture things that I learned while I was in seminary. What better time than now to share them with you?

Theology matters.

When I first came to seminary, I wasn’t totally sure what I believed about a lot of theological issues. Sure, I knew what I had been taught growing up, but as a young adult, I had started to think for myself and find that many things I was taught as a child just didn’t work for me. In college, I spent a lot of time deconstructing those beliefs and examining why I didn’t agree with them, but I hadn’t spent an equal amount of time and energy reconstructing new beliefs.

To be honest, I wasn’t sure how much it all mattered. I like to think of myself as an open-minded person, which means I’m averse to saying that any particular view is downright wrong. I can see the strengths in a variety of theological beliefs, and this makes it hard to affirm just one. Before seminary, I sort of functioned with a live-and-let-live mentality. I thought, “If multiple views have value, does it really matter whether I pick one or not?”

But my seminary training has taught me that what I believe does matter. Not only does my theology have practical implications for how I live my life, but it also matters on a less pragmatic level. The truth is that God cares what we think about him, and thus it is our duty to be discerning and to think the right thoughts about theological issues to the best of our abilities. This is not just for ourselves, but ultimately for the glory of God.

I’m not saying I have it all figured out or that anyone who disagrees with me is necessarily wrong. But through the processes of learning and growing that I experienced in seminary, I learned to take an informed stance on theological issues because theology does matter.

Theology is hard.

But figuring out what one should believe is not an easy process. There are a wide range of theological viewpoints available to us. In fact, there are more than I ever could have imagined, and many of the views I studied in seminary were views that I might not have even considered “Christian” before studying them. The truth is that theology is a difficult subject, and it only gets harder the more you learn.

There is no such thing as a perfect system of theological beliefs. No matter what viewpoint one affirms, someone else can always come along and poke holes in it, pointing out issues in the view that someone who adheres to it might never even consider. We have a multitude of theological views because when we study theology, we are trying to understand something that is far beyond human comprehension. The best thing we can do is come up with a system of imperfect metaphors that attempt to explain our experience of God.

And so we have to choose the theological views that make the most sense given our experience, and then we have to live with the problems that inevitably come along with those views. As hard as we might try, we can never explain away every issue that someone might find in our theology. The best we can do is be true to our own convictions and pick the theological solutions with problems that we can live with.

There is room for diversity of thought.

And that is going to look different for different people. Some might be willing to live with theological issues that I simply cannot stand. As someone who takes theology seriously, I am seriously affected by the implications of the beliefs I affirm, and I want to pick the best ones. But even in the midst of that, I acknowledge that I am not perfect, and thus my theology will never be perfect, either.

In seminary, I had classmates who found themselves all along the theological spectrum, and we engaged in some pretty intense discussions surrounding theological issues like divine foreknowledge, human suffering, and free will. But never in my seminary career did I come across a student who was insincere in his or her faith and commitment to following Christ. Even though we were all there for the same purpose, we came to different theological conclusions.

I’ve come to accept that well-meaning, Christ-following, God-serving people will not always agree with me on every theological issue that arises, even the big ones. Because we’re dealing with something so far beyond our ability to understand, it is inevitable that we are going to disagree. And even though theology does matter a great deal, it is also acceptable to leave room for diversity of thought within theology.

We can debate. We can disagree. We can even come to a point where we simply have to agree to disagree. And that’s OK, because ultimately, we are all serving the same Lord who has given us each the intellectual capacity to think through these issues for ourselves in our pursuit of him.

At the end of the day, theology is all about glorifying God, and I am so grateful that I’ve had the opportunity to study theology for the past few years. I look forward to taking what I’ve learned and applying it as I move into full-time ministry and continue to pursue learning more about God through my work and personal study. I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has supported and encouraged me through this process and to thank you for allowing me to share what I’ve learned. It’s been an incredible journey, and I can’t wait to see what’s next.

Dino Club: Growing Up with My Favorite Artist

I, like most people, have pretty strong emotional ties to the music I listened to during my formative years. In music, I found a way to navigate the new, complex emotions I was experiencing as I transitioned from adolescence into young adulthood. At the time, those artists provided me with a creative outlet that I desperately needed. But when I revisit those songs now, I find many of them to be immature and disconnected from my current experience. Every once in a while, I’ll try listening to new music from the musicians I loved back then, and it just isn’t the same. And so most of those artists have faded into the background and fallen off of my musical radar.

But then there’s Secret Secret Dino Club.

I’m not sure if it was serendipitous timing, the fact that I really connect with the personality and outlook of Jayce (the musician behind the project), or if the songs were just that catchy, but for whatever reason, I have been a relentlessly loyal fan of Secret Secret Dino Club since the second I first heard his music. And my love has only grown stronger over the years as I’ve followed Jayce throughout his various endeavors and even had the opportunity to interact with him a few times online. To call myself a Dino Club super-fan would be an understatement. That’s why I was so excited to listen to his new five-track EP “I Don’t Wanna Be Famous” when it came out last week, and I’m happy to report that it did not disappoint in the least.

The new EP comes after a lengthy hiatus for Secret Secret Dino Club. The project’s last studio album (“Look Cat Meow,” recently re-released as “Songs from My Myspace”) came out in 2011. Since then, Jayce has mostly focused on other projects, especially the rap/pop band Astro Safari USA that he started with his best friend JP. Though he did release an EP entitled “Like Lebron Has His Ball” under the Dino Club name last year on SoundCloud, this album serves as Jayce’s mainstream return to the project and to the musical style that defines Secret Secret Dino Club.

If I had to sum up the new album in a word, it would be “growth.” Although the style of the songs will certainly sound familiar to anyone who’s listened to Dino Club before, the lyrics most likely won’t be. They’re as fun, catchy, and witty as ever, but there’s a maturity to the content that’s new to Jayce’s work. And I find that maturity refreshing.

It’s clear from the first few moments of the album that something is different. The title track (“Famous”) begins with the lines, “I don’t want to be famous. // Famous people break up // and get hooked on drugs.” My immediate reaction to these lyrics was, “Why would Jayce care about breaking up with someone?” Dino Club doesn’t sing about maintaining romantic relationships. Dino Club sings about taking girlfriend applications and telling overbearing women to stop calling. And yet the entire song is about Jayce’s desire to avoid pursuing fame and focus instead on being real and finding love. The result is a critique of fame culture that is both entertaining and convicting at the same time. The song ends with a staple of Dino Club music: The instruments cut out just before Jayce delivers the final note, leaving only his voice. It makes for an effective conclusion to the album’s opening track.

“The Best Song I Ever Heard in My Entire Life” follows “Famous” with even more explicit references to Dino Club’s newfound focus on his relationship. The song is self-aware, critiquing itself as it progresses and recognizing itself as the best song the singer has ever heard, not necessarily because of its quality, but because of its subject. My favorite thing about this song is the layering of voices on the chorus. Jayce has a voice that is perfectly fit to be harmonize with itself, and when he uses this technique, it creates a very unique and appealing effect that I’ve always enjoyed.

The EP continues with “Art” set at the center of the track list. As a long-time follower of Secret Secret Dino Club, I am acutely aware of Jayce’s complicated relationship with the concept of art. The term is difficult to define, and it’s often used to communicate either sophistication or exemption from critique, but neither of these is satisfying. In this song, the singer finally offers his conclusive definition of art, and it’s simply the person he loves. The chorus goes so far as to say, “You’re a piece of art.” I have shared in Jayce’s frustration over the use of the term “art” over the years, and it is so cathartic to see that, at least for him, there is a meaningful answer to question of what art is.

“Easy” is by far my favorite song on the EP. This song is Dino Club at his most vulnerable. Each verse reveals the artist’s insecurities in the context of romantic relationships, and the chorus serves as both a confession that the singer is responsible for making it “not easy” to love him and an appreciation for his partner’s patience in doing so anyway. In this track, Jayce is recognizing his own shortcomings and the fact that he is loved despite them. That is a level of depth never before seen in a Dino Club song, and it really connected with me.

The album ends with “Trumpets Sing.” This is a fun little song that seems to be about Jayce’s experience meeting his girlfriend and trying to woo her. The alternative title is “Intro,” which is ironic since it is the final track on the EP and probably refers to the fact that the song deals with the beginning of a relationship that clearly means a great deal to the singer.

This new album from Secret Secret Dino Club offers the catchy, upbeat melodies and the witty lyrics that have always defined the project and drawn in fans, but it also offers something more. It incorporates a more mature, fulfilled approach to the world that reflects a significant shift in the artist’s outlook. Jayce has fallen in love, come to terms with his own imperfections, and experienced the growth that inevitably comes from truly loving someone and being loved by them, and he’s shared that growth with his listeners through this EP.

The result is an incredibly satisfying and relatable release from a musician I’ve had the honor of following as I’ve undergone my own process of developing and maturing. It feels like I got to grow up with an artist I truly admire, and I can’t think of anything better Jayce could have offered his fans with his latest release.

Is the Apple Watch Too Complicated?

A friend and I are discussing his recent purchase of a new workout machine and the fact that he’s using his Apple Watch to track his fitness. He complains that the Watch doesn’t count calories the same way his workout machine does, telling him he burns significantly less calories each time he works out. I ask if he’s using the Watch’s Workouts app each time because it ensures that the heart rate sensor is constantly monitoring activity during exercise. He responds, “The Watch has a Workouts app? I didn’t even know that.”

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My classmate comes to school one day showing off her brand new rose gold Apple Watch, and I can’t help but feel a tinge of jealousy at how pretty it is. She gushes about its features and how much she enjoys using it. The class is enamored with her new accessory. However, the appreciation for the Apple Watch quickly wears off as it continually dings throughout class, interrupting discussion and breaking students’ concentration. After class, I approach the new Apple Watch owner and say, “I hope this doesn’t come off the wrong way, but do you know how to silence your Watch?” In near desperation, she says, “No, I have no idea. Can you show me?”

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I publish a blog post about a sort of hack I’ve discovered where I arrange all of my Apple Watch apps in reverse order on the dock to make the ones I use most often more easily accessible. This comes after months of fumbling through my app list each morning while trying to pay for coffee. I share the post on Facebook hoping that it will be helpful to other Watch users facing similar issues. One comment I receive says, “Thank you for sharing this! I didn’t even know my Watch had an app dock.”

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A friend is having trouble waking up on time because his phone alarm isn’t going off, and he asks if I can help. Following my suggestions, he has checked the ringer volume, made sure the alarm is set to the correct time, and confirmed that his software is up-to-date. Once I run out of potential fixes for his phone alarm, I tell him about my personal solution: I use my Apple Watch as an alarm instead of my phone and have found it to be more reliable. Maybe my approach will work for him as well. His response: “The Watch can do that?”

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I’m complaining to my brother about how hard it is to take a picture using the iPhone camera’s timer. I don’t like having to start the timer, race in front of the camera, and then wait for it to finish counting down. Plus I can never get the framing quite right. He points to my wrist and says, “Yeah, but you could just use your Watch to look through the camera.” I tell him I can’t. He insists that I can and then tells me to open the app on my Watch. I’m immediately proven wrong. I can actually see a live feed of my camera’s viewfinder right on my wrist. I’m blown away not only by the Watch’s capability but by the fact that I’ve been missing out on this feature for over a year.

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Stories like this are far too common. Ask an Apple Watch owner, “What do you use your Watch for?” and they’ll probably list off two or three main uses. (Notifications, fitness, and payments are the most common.) But these represent only a fraction of what the Watch can actually do. It’s a really powerful device that is being underutilized by the majority of people who own it, including techies like myself.

The thing about smartwatches is that they aren’t as intuitive as smartphones and tablets. Because of their size, you can’t just pick them up and start tapping around to use them. Developers have had to come up with multiple ways to interact with the watches (including digital crowns, buttons, and force-sensitive screens) that aren’t as straightforward as simply tapping the screen. This poses a problem for the Apple Watch because it dissuades users from exploring the device and learning about all of the helpful things that it can do.

Since debuting the Watch, Apple has progressively improved upon its software in order to make it more capable and more straightforward to use, and they’ve come a long way. However, there is still more work to be done. Apple has to come up with a solution that empowers it users to take advantage of all of the features of the Watch if they want the product to gain a broader appeal.

I’m not sure what form this solution should take, whether it be a more robust Starter Guide in the box itself, an interactive tutorial during Watch setup, or a series of videos that are easily accessible to new Watch owners. Maybe it should be some combination of these, or a completely new approach. But it seems to clear to me that Apple has to do something. Otherwise, the Apple Watch will remain a niche product instead of becoming the hit that the company clearly wants it to be.

God, Country, and Hegemony

I’m going to be honest: I used to hate my country. Maybe I was just angsty, or maybe I was just frustrated with the many flaws I saw in the system, or maybe I was just exhausted by all the people around me who seemed to be so in love with a place that I didn’t feel the same way about. But regardless, I honestly despised the United States, and I was quite vocal about it. I dreamed of one day moving to Europe (or Canada) and living among much more decent people in a much more decent place. I didn’t think there was any country on earth worse than the U.S.

But then I started to learn more about the world, and I realized a few things.

First of all, I am extremely privileged to be a U.S. citizen, and I benefit greatly from having been born here. Religious freedom, the right to vote, and the ability to become what I want to become are privileges I took for granted growing up, but they are not equally available to everyone. Many countries don’t offer their citizens the rights and freedom that I’m afforded, and I’ve learned to be thankful for that.

And while the U.S. does have its flaws, it’s also responsible for some pretty incredible things, and it deserves credit for them. The U.S. created democracy and proved to the world that it can be a viable—though certainly not perfect—way to govern a country. It is the birthplace of the separation between church and state, a concept that has made the world a much better place when put into practice. Its economy has created space for companies to form, grow, and create things that have revolutionized human life as we know it. When it is at its best, the United States can be a place of acceptance, innovation, and change that moves the world in the right direction.

I’ve also realized that my country needs people to love it well. It’s far too easy to criticize and cast hate the way I used to, but it’s just as easy to fall into the trap of uncritically believing that everything the U.S. does is great, even going so far as claiming that the country has some special relationship with God (which it doesn’t). But what the United States really needs is people who love it well, who recognize its shortcomings and care enough to work to change them instead of ignoring them or just simply pointing a finger. Without those kinds of people, the country is doomed to fall into division and decay. And if I won’t love my country the way it needs me to, who will?

The biggest thing I’ve realized is that the United States isn’t particularly special one way or another. Is it the democratic utopia that patriotic nationalism makes it out to be? No. But is the ultimate source of evil in the world, as I used to believe? Of course not. It’s a country, one among many, and it happens to be mine. Seeing the U.S. as just a country and nothing more has helped me put its history, its actions, and its current state into perspective, allowing me to let go of my feelings of hate towards it in the process.

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I think Christians in the United States are in an especially difficult place when it comes to how we choose to relate to our country. On the one hand, we know that our loyalty does not ultimately lie with any earthly entity but with God alone. On the other hand, we are called to engage with the world and the culture around us as a part of living out the life of faith. And so we’re compelled to participate in the life and the processes of our nation. But there’s a balance to it that we miss out on far too often.

Because the institutions of this world exist for one reason: to perpetuate themselves. This is true for corporations, organizations, religions, colleges, and yes, even governments. Governmental institutions thrive when their citizens follow them blindly, so they use means like culture and education to create a hegemony of patriotism and nationalism that they then instill in every citizen that they possibly can.

And this hegemony is powerful. It tries to mix itself up with faith to the point that we followers of Christ can’t tell biblical principles from American cultural norms. It tries to convince us that patriotism is objectively good and that anything seemingly against the well-being of the country is morally evil. It tries to establish a relationship between God and country that is so close and so powerful that we end up worshipping the wrong one without even realizing it.

At least part of my former hatred towards my country was rooted in this hegemony and the utter control it had over the people around me growing up. I’m not trying to speak ill of them at all. They were well-meaning, Christ-loving people who had simply fallen into the trap of American hegemony. Once I recognized the system of lies that the people around me had bought into, I used hatred as a defense mechanism. It worked for a while, but I eventually realized that my approach had its own pitfalls.

Now that I don’t have hatred to hide behind, I sometimes feel myself being drawn into the trap of hegemony myself. I get a little too invested in my preferred political candidate, eventually granting them the position of savior, one that can only rightfully be held by Jesus. I condone acts of violence on the condition that they’re carried out for the security of my country, completely ignoring the fact that the people in other places are created in the image of God just as much as I am. I hear the phrase “America first” and think, “Why shouldn’t we put our own country first?” In the process, I lose sight of God’s concern for all people, not just those who share my citizenship.

There is a way to love one’s country without worshipping it. But it’s not easy, and I certainly haven’t mastered it. I think the only way to truly overcome the hegemony is to be completely devoted to Jesus Christ, resisting all temptations to put anything above him, even something as noble as one’s love of country.

Because the truth is that the United States isn’t our eternal destination; it’s heaven. And the American flag is not the symbol we pledge our allegiance to; it’s the cross. And The Star Spangled Banner isn’t the anthem of our souls; it’s Amazing Grace. The powers that be would convince us that we should love our country above all else, and our Christian response should be a resounding, “No.” We love our country, but we reject the hegemony. We love our country, but we love Jesus infinitely more.